Tag Archives: Ireland
BELLATOR SIGNS 24 U.K. AND IRELAND-BASED FIGHTERS TO EXCLUSIVE MULTI-FIGHT AGREEMENTS
LOS ANGELES – Bellator today announced the signing of 24 U.K. and Ireland-based athletes to bolster the roster as the organization continues its growth initiative in the region, following already-announced plans for an exclusive fight series set to take place throughout the U.K., Ireland and western Europe.
Notably, former two-division BAMMA champ Terry Brazier, TUF: The Smashes lightweight winner Norman Parke, popular Irish lightweight Paul Redmond, undefeated SBG Ireland product Kiefer Crosbie and TUF season 27-veteran Richie Smullen, are among the names now signed to exclusive multi-fight agreements with Bellator.
“Growing the Bellator organization throughout U.K. and Ireland has been a top priority for us for quite some time,” said Bellator President Scott Coker. “Adding up-and-coming, as well as established, talent from the region to our roster plays a crucial role in us being able to take the next steps in this market. Our fans in the U.K. and Ireland can anticipate a much stronger Bellator presence and can look forward to seeing some of western Europe’s best MMA fighters inside the Bellator cage in the near future.”
Bellator has previously held events throughout the U.K. and Ireland, including London, Dublin, Belfast and Newcastle. Most recently, historic Bellator 200 emanated from The SSE Arena, Wembley on May 25 and featured Michael “Venom” Page, Linton Vassell, Aaron Chalmers and Mike Shipman among other top talent from the market.
Bellator is pleased to welcome the following fighters to the roster:
Lightweight:
- Terry Brazier (10-1; fighting out of England)
- Pedro Carvalho (8-3; fighting out of Ireland by way of Portugal)
- Constantin Gnusariev (1-0; fighting out of Ireland by way of Moldova)
- Luka Jelcic (10-3; fighting out of Ireland by way of Croatia)
- Charlie Leary (15-9-1; fighting out of England)
- Lewis Long (16-5; fighting out of Wales)
- Norman Parke (25-6-1, 1 NC; fighting out of Northern Ireland)
- Myles Price (10-7, fighting out of Ireland)
- Paul Redmond (14-8; fighting out of Ireland)
- Daniele Scatizzi (9-4; fighting out Ireland by way of Italy)
- Sam Slater (2-0; fighting out of Ireland)
- Richie Smullen (3-1-1; fighting out of Ireland)
- Tim Wilde (12-3; fighting out of England)
Welterweight:
- Ruben Crawford (16-3; fighting out of Ireland by way of Germany)
- Kiefer Crosbie (4-0; fighting out of Ireland)
- Walter Gahadza (17-3; fighting out of England)
- Richard Kiely (2-1; fighting out of Ireland)
- Ion Pascu (18-8; fighting out of Ireland by way of Romania)
- Jim Wallhead (29-11; fighting out of England)
Featherweight:
- Dylan Logan (2-3; fighting out of Ireland)
- Nathan Rose (6-1; fighting out of England)
Middleweight:
- Claudio Conti (7-5-2; fighting out of Ireland by way of Italy)
- John Redmond (7-13; fighting out of Ireland)
Women’s Flyweight:
- Antonela Orlic – (pro debut; fighting out of Ireland by way of Croatia)
Coyle captures NBA title with sixth round stoppage of Pastrana
Coyle after capturing the NBA title PHOTO CREDIT – Damon Gonzalez Latin Box Sports
St. Petersburg, FL (June 20, 2017) – Middleweight up and comer Connor “The Kid” Coyle became the NBA Intercontinental middleweight champion by scoring an impressive sixth round stoppage of local rival Danny “El Bebo” Pastrana Saturday, June 16 at The Coliseum in St. Petersburg, FL.
The card was promoted by Fire Fist Boxing Promotions in association with Money Round Boxing League.
Fighting in front of a sold out crowd, both men looked to impose their will in the early going. Eventually, Coyle found his range and peppered Pastrana with jabs while using good movement to steer clear of return shots. With the fight under his control, Coyle buzzed Pastrana with a right hand in round six. Moments later, the 28-year-old uncorked a massive right hand that sent his Orlando, FL based foe crashing to the canvas. The game Pastrana beat the 10 count but was clearly out of it, forcing the stoppage at 2:50.
Coyle, who hails from Derry, Northern Ireland but trains out of Tampa, FL, improves to 8-0 with 3 wins by knockout. Pastrana slips to 6-5 (1 KO).
In the co-featured bout of the evening, two-time Olympic medalist Ivan Dychko destroyed former title challenger Mike Marrone of Vero Beach, FL in in less than a round. Originally from Kazakhstan and now fighting out of Kissimmee, FL, Dychko scored three knockdowns before the bout was stopped at 2:19.
The 6’9 Dychko ups his professional ledger to 6-0 with all of his victories by knockout. Marrone is now 21-9 with 15 KO’s.
Grand Rapids, MI featherweight Vincent Jennings scored a shocking six round majority decision over local favorite Jose “Lil Pacquiao” Resendiz of St. Petersburg. In a battle between boxer and brawler, Jennings did all he could to keep the aggressive Resendiz, who also had to overcome a cut, on the outside.
Judge Chris Young’s 57-57 tally was overruled by scorecards of 58-56 from both Efrian Lebron and Mike Ross.
Jennings is now 6-5-1 with 4 victories by way of KO while Resendiz falls to 5-2.
Welterweight phenom and crowd favorite Mark Reyes Jr., 7-0 (5 KO’s) Demolished Puerto Rican veteran Javier Garcia in 2:25. Representing Tampa, FL, Reyes displayed impressive speed and dynamic power, scoring a knockdown following a vicious combination that left Garcia unable to continue.
“I am pleased with the card,” said Jody Caliguire of Fire Fist Boxing Promotions. “We were able to showcase a number of top fighters from the Sunshine State and had a great crowd. Connor looked fantastic and we believe the sky is the limit for him. Mark Reyes Jr. Is a great young talent as well and Ivan Dychko is a force to be reckoned with. I’d like to thank all the fighters and every fans who came out to show their support along with Money Round Boxing League for showing the fight worldwide via their website.
Fire Fist returns to the St. Pete Coliseum Saturday, October 6 and details will be available shortly. For more information, visit Firefistboxing.net or Facebook.com/firefistboxing.
OTHER RESULTS:
JUNIOR WELTERWEIGHTS – Joseph Fernandez (8-3-3, 1 KO – Arcadia, FL) UD6 Larry Yanez (4-10-2, Fort Lauderdale, FL) 60-54, 60-54, 60-54
WELTERWEIGHTS – Leonel Jimenez (5-23-1, 4 KO’s – Eagle Pass, TX) SD6 Ali Tareh (13-14-5, 6 KO’s – St. Petersburg, FL) – 58-56, 59-55, 56-58
BANTAMWEIGHTS – Brian Cannady (3-0, 2 KO’s – Fort Myers, FL) TKO4 Michael Wooten (0-1 – Orlando, FL)
HEAVYWEIGHTS – Rodriguez Cade (2-1, 2 KO’s – Monroe, GA) KO2 Gary Kelly (1-7 – Montgomery, AL)
Coyle confident sacrifices will pay off June 16
Coyle and Pastrana ready for fight night
PHOTO CREDIT: Damon Gonzalez – Latin Box Sports
Tampa, FL (June 13, 2018) – When unbeaten middleweight Connor Coyle entered the paid ranks, he was considered one of Ireland’s prized prospects. The Derry native medaled at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and generated a lot of interest from promoters across the globe.
Coyle ultimately signed with Tampa, FL based Fire Fist Promotions and five of his seven professional bouts took place in the Tampa region. To ensure he’s at his absolute best when entering the squared circle, Coyle treks more than 4000 miles from Ireland to Tampa for training camp.
While his stateside training camps play an integral role in Coyle’s improvement, it comes with major sacrifices.
“The hardest part is having to get up and leave my little girl for each camp,” Coyle said of training in Tampa while his 2-year-old daughter remains in Ireland. “I’ve been doing this since she was born and it’s hard because she doesn’t understand why.”
The 7-0 Coyle’s next challenge comes Saturday, June 16 when he meets rival Danny Pastrana of Orlando, FL in a ten round contest for the NBA Intercontinental middleweight title at the Coliseum in St Petersburg, FL.
Pastrana has a modest 6-4 record with 1 KO but has faced good competition. He’s had a full training camp leading up to June 16 and Coyle’s expecting the confident Pastrana to be at his best.
“I’ve put in a full training camp and the work has been done in the gym. Training so far from home is a struggle with my daughter back in Ireland but it also inspires me. I’ll be ready for whatever Danny Pastrana brings Saturday night and plan to return to Ireland with the NBA championship.”
The card is promoted by Fire Fist Promotions in association with Money Round Boxing. A limited number of tickets are available at www1.ticketmaster.com/event/0D00548D9F1C967E.
Fans can also enjoy the fight live from anywhere in the world starting at 7 pm ET at Moneyroundboxing.com. The telecast will feature commentary by Boxing Hall of Famer Winky Wright.
In the co-featured bout of the evening, two-time Olympic bronze medalist Ivan Dychko, 5-0 (5 KO’s), of Kissimmee, FL by way of Kazakhstan challenges former title contender Mike Marrone, 21-8 (15 KO’s), of Vero Beach, FL. The 6’9 Dychko is regarded by many as a future heavyweight champion.
Welterweight phenom Mark Reyes Jr. squares off against experienced Puerto Rican Javier Garcia, 8-16-1 (3 KO’s) in a six rounder. Living and fighting out of Tampa, Reyes Jr, 6-0 (4 KO’s), was a top amateur and has a huge following. Against Reyes, Garcia’s facing his 12th unbeaten foe.
Featherweight crowd pleaser Jose “Lil Pacquiao” Resendiz, 5-1 (3 KO’s) of St. Petersburg meets Vincent Jennings of Grand Rapids, MI in a six round affair. Resendiz is a favorite in the Sunshine State, fighting a Pacquiao-esque style that puts fans at the edge of their seats. Jennings, 5-5-1 (4 KO’s), fought all across the country and has a decision win over previously unbeaten Dennis Galarza.
The undercard features the career finale of St. Petersburg’s Ali Terah, junior welterweight Joseph Fernandez, heavyweight Rodriguez Cade and bantamweight Rufat Huseynov in separate bouts.
The cruiserweight contest featuring Nicholas Iannuzzi and Vincent Miranda was cancelled due to an injury suffered by Iannuzzi in training.
For more information, visit Firefistboxing.net.
Boxing Commission Launches Boxer Health & Safety Advisory Website
The British & Irish Boxing Authority (BIBA) today announced the launch of the BIBA Health & Safety Executive website – www.boxbiba.co.uk– that not only covers Health & Safety advice, resources and information for boxers, but also features Mental Health awareness information and resources.
Since 2016 the British & Irish Boxing Authority have strived to improve all aspects of Boxer Health & Safety, including appointing a number of specialists, including renowned sports injury specialist Professor Michael Graham MBChB; PhD; FRSM; BASEM; MICR; MCSFS; PCCMH; APIL Expert; FSB to the BIBA Medical Advisory Board to develop additional Boxer Health and Safety procedures, such as Cognitive Testing both as part of their licensing procedure as well as the post event medical, as well as to head up a team of experts to undertake long term research into Combat Sports related head injuries.
In March 2017 the British & Irish Boxing Authority were the first commission to introduce Infra-Scanners, a portable infrared brain scanner that can detect signs of bleed to the brains, at events sanctioned by themselves, following a number of serious head injuries within the sport, including the death of Mike Towell in 2016.
Another recent British & Irish Boxing Authority initiative was the introduction in January 2018 of permitting Rehydration drinks in the corner for all contest of eight rounds and over, in an attempt to ensure that boxers remain hydrated in longer contests, which in itself can also reduce the risk of potential swelling or bleeds to the brain.
On announcing the new Health & Safety Executive website BIBA CEO and Executive Vice President Gianluca Di Caro stated;
“Back in February we signed up to the Mental Health Charter for Sport and Recreation and as part of our action plan we decided to create a specific website to raise Mental Health awareness within the sport.
During the discussions with the committee that overseas our Mental Health policies it dawned on me that whilst it is essential that we get the information and resources available on the very important subject of Mental Health, that we should also cover other equally important Health & Safety matters, especially those that may reduce the potential risks of bleeds to the brain as well as take a serious look at the current rules of the sport to improve the Health & Safety of those that compete.
Another factor that led us to decide to create an all-encompassing HSE website was that our leading team of specialists are currently undertaking a long-term research project into head injuries within not just Boxing but all Combat Sports.
Even though we are only a few months into this research project we have already highlighted a number of areas, within the current rules, that need to be seriously looked at and changes made, we will also be highlighting these proposed changes on the new HSE website ahead of lobbying all World and Regional Championship Organisations, the Boxing and Combat Sports Industry Associations as well as other Commissions around the world to try and get these incredibly vital changes to the rules introduced.
Those of us who govern the sport need to consider making much needed changes to the rules now, as well as move with the times and embrace new technology, especially if these can prevent further tragedies, as I believe it is our, the Commissions that Govern the Sport’s responsibility to ensure that the Health & Safety of those that compete is of the highest level possible, not to do so would be dangerous and irresponsible and could even destroy our beloved sport, by basically help in making the case, by our own inaction, for those that want Professional Boxing banned.”
The British & Irish Boxing Authority (BIBA) Health & Safety Executive website – www.boxbiba.co.uk – went live today and will be updated regularly to provide boxers with an unequalled information and resources reference point.
BIBA Main Website: www.boxbiba.com
BIBA HSE Website: www.boxbiba.co.uk
Amateur Boxing: USA vs Ireland New England Tour Closes Out With Fantastic Night of Action in Manchester, NH
Fight Report By: Rich Bergeron
Photography By: Shelly Corriveau
PHOTO SLIDESHOW (contact rich.bergeron@gmail.com for photo copies):
Boxing fans packed the Manchester Downtown Hotel Wednesday night to take in a spectacular night of elite amateur boxing. This was the final stop on a three-city tour of Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts and Manchester, New Hampshire. The scheduled fights featured Team USA amateurs facing the best amateur boxers from Ireland. By the final bell, Ireland managed to finish the eight bouts of the evening with a tie score, their best outcome of the tour. Team USA won the first two duals of the tour in Boston and Springfield, respectively, by scores of 8-4 and 7-3.
Wednesday’s fights were not all about winning, however. For the majority of the boxers involved it was a great opportunity to fine-tune their techniques and get some much-needed international competition experience. Some of Wednesday night’s best performers will also likely be representing their respective countries in the upcoming 2020 Olympics.
The main event of the night featured 2016 Youth World Championships Bronze Medalist Richard Torrez dominating 3-time Irish National Champion Dean Gardiner. The Irish fighter’s towering height and long reach simply could not overcome the fast pace and excellent defensive posture of the shorter American.
Torrez spent the first round executing masterful feinting and punch slipping while scoring with some bombing hooks. Torrez changed levels, used slick head movement, and never let his foot off the gas as Gardiner plodded forward with an unbalanced and wild approach in the early going. A thudding body shot connected for the Irishman in the first, but not much else.
Torrez kept up the quick work rate in the next frame, unleashing left and right hooks and landing cleanly through much of the round. He scored to the body and head easily, though much of the round saw his opponent covering up and waiting for openings. One straight left from Torrez sent his opponent reeling for a moment, but the taller man recovered and did land a phenomenal left hook to the head of Torrez as he was fighting off the ropes. Gardiner tried landing mostly straight punches on the outside and seemed unable to turn over his punches in close.
The third round saw both fighters slugging it out until the final bell with one of the wildest back and forth exchanges of the night, but it was too little and too late for Gardiner. He just could not get his range dialed in. Torrez just outworked his opponent again and landed a few slick uppercuts to go with his thundering right and left hooks. He used the jab sparingly but effectively, spending much of the final frame targeting Gardiner’s body. Torrez earned the Unanimous Decision win with his performance and didn’t take more than a handful of hard shots in the process.
Kelly Harrington, a World Championship Silver Medalist from Ireland, likely had her team’s most masterful performance in cruising to a unanimous decision victory over Stacia Suttles in the opening bout of the night. Suttles struggled to keep herself at the ideal punching range against the unrelenting attack of Harrington in the first round, spending much of the three minutes bobbing and weaving to try to avoid the crisp combinations of her opponent. Suttles did land her jab fairly consistently, and she did begin to put some combos together late in the round, but Harrington is an absolute expert when it comes to head movement. She looked as if Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was one of her coaches as she utilized a hands-low technique with constant feints, punch slipping and level changing. The first round saw her landing a beautiful straight left to the head and a fantastic body and head punching combination that landed solidly. She unleashed some fierce hooks, although a few were wild haymakers. Below is a picture of Harrington during one of just a few brief moments in the fight where she brought both hands up to protect her face.
USA and Ireland battle to 4-4 draw Americans capture three-city team title, 2-0-1, on USA vs. Ireland Northeast Boxing Tour
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2001 Fight of the Year Reunion for final stop of 2018 USA vs. Ireland Northeast Tour
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Mick
Team USA knocks off Team Ireland, 7-3 on USA Boxing’s 2018 USA vs. Ireland Northeast Boxing Tour stop #2; SPRINGFIELD RESULTS
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USA Boxing Announces Rosters for USA vs. IRL Northeast Boxing Tour
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